Man charged in Marshfield shooting deaths

A 25-year-old Machias man has been charged with two counts of murder in connection with the early morning shooting deaths on Wednesday, January 23, of a 41-year-old Eastport man and 29-year-old woman that occurred at the latter's Marshfield home.

Richard W. Widdecomb Jr. is charged with shooting Katie Cabana inside her Route 192 home shortly before 2 a.m. Aaron Settipani, a friend of Cabana, was found shot to death in his vehicle outside her residence. Widdecomb, an ex-boyfriend of Cabana, was taken into custody at about 8:45 a.m. after being located by the Machias Police Department at his home on Pleasant Boulevard in Machias.

Police had closed down a large section of downtown Machias prior to the man being taken into custody, but Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith says that Widdecomb was cooperative and immediately came out of the house when asked by a state police negotiator.

One of Cabana's three children was wounded in the shootings. Six-year-old Autumn Rodgers is being treated for a gunshot wound in the foot at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. According to Robin Popp of the Down East Community Hospital, the child and the other two children were brought to the Machias hospital as a result of the shooting incident. Two of the children were evaluated and released to family members. The police report that the other two children are Autumn's brothers, 9-year-old Gabriel Brady and 5-year-old Ethan Rodgers.

Law enforcement officials learned of the shooting after both Settipani and Cabana called for help on separate phones. Sheriff Smith says, "We got a call at 1:41 a.m. from [Cabana], and while the dispatcher was on the phone with her, he heard gunfire. At about the same time [Settipani] was on the phone with the dispatcher in Orono because the state police get the cell phone calls, and they heard gunfire while he was on the phone."

Widdecomb is being held in the Washington County Jail and was scheduled to make his first court appearance on Thursday, January 24, in Machias.

Widdecomb is employed at the Hannaford store in Machias. Settipani, who lived in Eastport since he was a youth, was a dispatcher for the Calais Police Department.

Assisting the Washington County Sheriff's Department, in addition to the Machias Police Department and the state police, was the Maine Forest Service. "It was a great joint effort," points out Smith. "There was a great show of support from all areas, so there was no further loss of life."